@samiam

Somehow, in some way, they had each been cursed — or blessed — with a quirk that made them different from the rest. No matter how many different ways ‘why’ was phrased, there were no answers.

For Chasingkit, ‘why’ was quite a common word popping out of his mouth. The black smoke tabby tom was insatiably curious. It was seen as both a promising virtue and a disastrous fault. For those willing to humor him, he was a roiling ball of energy that only seemed to brighten with every new question. He loved to fill his brain with as much knowledge as anyone could give him. But for those who saw him as a bane, his inability to silence himself frequently got him into trouble.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons he was so close to his sister, far closer to her than any of the rest of his littermates. They were both two peas in a very strange pod. They stuck together like glue, refusing to part, except during the night, when — to some — they needed one another most. Sablekit was always deep in dreamland, where more often than not she’d return with tales of her adventures and Chasingkit would ask all sorts of questions to keep her talking. While she was in slumber, however, he was always awake, gazing up at the stars. Nothing enchanted him more than that endless black sky, adorned with sparkling, finite jewels.

Being a nocturnal cat due to his inquisitive nature only made him all the more an oddity in the frozen wasteland that was WinterClan. His clan was diurnal — they maneuvered during the day and rested at night. While the silence when the sun went down and the moon rose high in the sky was peaceful and allowed him his thoughts, it was also quite lonely. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d obliged his clan’s schedule. Granted, his self-enforced sleep cycle often got him into a sticky situation here or there, but he had nothing to worry about... Yet. Of course, there was the occasional denmate that found it peculiar he slept away the light hours only to be restless and mutter to himself at their bedtime, but not a soul had yet to call him on it.

As for the siblings, they understood their quirks and respected the other’s longing for adventure.

Tonight was no different. Chasingkit sat next to his sister, peering the best he could at the patches of sky visible through the nursery entrance. Normally he’d be out in the chill, but he often felt uneasy leaving his sister’s side, and he felt Sablekit deserved at least one night in a warm nest instead of curled around him, desperate for warmth.

“One day,” he whispered to no one in particular, but hoped Sable could hear him wherever she was, “I’m going to fly to the stars. I bet it’s beautiful. Maybe I could even bring one back to you, if I asked nicely.”